Objective

To determine whether an association exists between giving up driving and increased depressive symptoms among older adults.

Design

Cohort study.

Setting

Urban, community based study in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Participants

1316 non-institutionalised men and women ≥ 65 years of age drawn from the cohort of the Established Populations for Epidemiologic
Studies of the Elderly programme who were alive at the seventh annual follow up interview in 1989.

Assessment of risk factors

In the 1989 follow up interview, participants were asked if they were still driving a car or if they had ever driven, but
stopped. Participants who had given up driving were asked when this occurred. Interviewers were blinded to the purpose of
the study. Factors other than giving up driving that could affect the outcome were also assessed (age, sex, education level,
housing type, marital status, cognitive status, visual and hearing problems, and performance of …